Leader of Opposition Jaynarayan Mishra of the BJP on Tuesday said that many schools in Odisha do not have adequate teachers and the students cannot even identify Odia alphabets but the government was busy painting the school buildings in “Pakistani colours” as part of its transformation programme.
Mishra’s comments in the assembly during the Zero Hour sparked a row with the ruling BJD pointing out that the national flag of India also has green in it, and so do trees and vegetables.
Many schools across the state do not have adequate teachers, and students of class 6 cannot even recognise Odia alphabets, Mishra claimed.
“Adding a fresh coat of the Pakistani colour to the school building won’t yield results. Is this the vision of the government’s 5T initiative?” he asked.
BJD MLA Arun Sahu immediately pulled out his mobile phone, and pointed to a photo of India’s national flag, stating that Mishra should take note of the colours in it.
Speaker BK Arukha, however, asked him not to use mobile phone in the House.
Vegetables, trees, plants and forests are also green in color, Sahu said, adding, “Would you call them Pakistani as well?”.
The schools being developed under the ‘5T’ programme — transparency, technology, teamwork, time and transformation — were being painted in green, akin to the colour of BJD’s party flag. As a part of the programme, the schools are getting smart classrooms, e-library and laboratories, among others.
“If you go to a village and see any sign of progress, that is 5T transformation for you. To denigrate the initiative, they even linked it to Pakistan. I fail to see the logic behind this comparison. Isn’t green a part of the tricolour?” Sahu said.
“If the opposition has a particular dislike for green, why not even quit consuming green vegetables,” he added.
Soon after the barbs between the two leaders, BJD MLA SR Patnaik stood up and said, “I will not speak on green or saffron, but on red. I want to draw the attention of the House on the poor state of affairs of the persons engaged in organising blood donation camps.”
He demanded recognition of the persons engaged in blood donation camps as government employees.
Source: PTI